Former prime minister Imran Khan, incarcerated for nearly two years, Tuesday praised the Pakistani nation’s collective retaliation after India’s attack last week, saying the escalation once again proves that Pakistanis are a brave, proud, and dignified nation.
He said this in a post on X platform, days after the U.S. brokered a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbor.
President Donald Trump said this week that he prevented a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.
Khan, who met Trump during a visit to the White House, also praised Pakistani people’s effort to counter Indian narrative during the conflict.
“I have always said, “Mulk bhi mera, Fauj bhi meri” (this country is mine, and so is the army). Just as our soldiers defeated (Indian Primee Minister Narendra) Modi on both aerial and ground fronts, the people of Pakistan—especially on social media—exposed and dismantled Modi and the (Indian outfit allied with the current government) RSS’s narrative at a global level,” he wrote in a message sent from jail.
New Delhi said it launched aerial strikes against what it called “terror infrastructure” sites in Pakistan linked to April 22 massacres of 26 tourists in Pahalgam, part of the disputed Kashmir territory in the Himalayan region that has been the bone of contention between the two South Asian rivals for more than 70 years.
Islamabad has rejected the Indian allegation that the gunmen who killed tourists in Pahalgam had links to a Pakistan-based terrorist group, saying New Delhi has not provided any evidence to back up its claim. India had alleged that anti-India Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the attack.
In his X post, Khan, whose party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf says its election mandate was stolen in last year’s election with the connivance of parts of military establishment and current rulers, also pointed out the need for taking the people along and empowering the judiciary.
“In a state of war, the military needs public support more than ever. The morale of the nation becomes the strength of the armed forces. That is why I’ve consistently emphasized that we must not isolate our people, and we must breathe life back into our justice system”
He accused Indian prime minister of displaying cowardice in “targeting innocent civilians such as children, women, the elderly, and civilian infrastructure in Pakistan.”
“Our forces responded with strength and precision. We stand in full solidarity with the families of both civilians and military personnel who were martyred in these cowardly attacks.”‘
Khan, who captained Pakistan to Cricket World Cup victory in 1992, has had differences with parts of the military establishment since he was ousted from power through a parliamentary no-confidence vote, applauded the military’s response.
“I pay tribute to the Pakistan Air Force and all our military personnel for their professionalism and outstanding performance. Unlike Modi, who targets civilians and public infrastructure, our forces successfully hit only the aircraft and installations directly involved in the attacks.”
Khan said he had predicted this scenario back in 2019 during his truncated prime ministerial term, when Indian and Pakistani air forces engaged in a dogfight over Modi’s August 5, 2019 suspension of special constitutionally ordained autonomous status of Kashmir, as well also called for national unity in the face of threats to Pakistan’s security.
“In case of any new attack, the nation must remain united and ready.”
“During wartime, a swift response is absolutely vital. Wars are fought as much with nerves as with weapons—perhaps 60 percent of it depends on mental strength. That is why it is crucial to have leadership that enjoys the people’s trust and can make bold and timely decisions in the face of aggression,” Imran Khan noted.
Khan’s party PTI says the corruption charges levelled against him have not been proved in a court of law and that he has been denied a due process. The current civilian government is made up of Khan’s political opponents including Pakistan Muslim League and Pakistan Peoples Party but analysts and independent observers have raised serious questions about the results of February 2024 general elections.
Pakistan named its retaliatory move against India’s Operation Sindoor as Operation Bunyan al-Marsous — “a multi-domain retaliatory strike that the Pakistani army says exposed the vulnerabilities of Indian military infrastructure, punctured the myth of invincibility surrounding India’s defense systems, and shattered the foundations of its psychological warfare campaign.”
Independent reports say India lost at least four fighter jets to Pakistani fightback in one of the biggest dogfights in history including the high-tech Rafale planes.
New Delhi, on the other hand, says it has taken out terror operatives in its operation, and threatened to launch an operation, if another attack takes place on its soil or Indian-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan military says it’s armed forces, led by the Air Force, executed precision strikes on multiple Indian military installations that were complicit in shelling civilian neighborhoods and mosques in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, the part of the disputed territory under its control.
The military, which used Chinese modern warfare equipment including J-10 and JF-17 jets, says the strikes focused exclusively on military targets, with surgical precision designed to avoid civilian casualties—a stark contrast to India’s reckless tactics.
Pakistan said it also destroyed a Russian-imported S-400 missile defense system, considered “a symbol of Indian strategic deterrence, which failed to detect or intercept the incoming Pakistani strikes.”
Pakistani military’s media wings says that despite having the operational capability to cause far greater destruction, Pakistan’s response was measured and it did not target any civilian or religious sites while India, it said, destroyed mosques and killed civilians. “Pakistan does not seek escalation—but it will not allow aggression to go unanswered,” it said.
